"As long as the A-League is on both Foxtel and/or SBS, it's non-competitive against free-to-air television, as is obvious through Ten's broadcasting of Big Bash": Professor David Shilbury. Photo: Getty Images

An average of less than 80,000 have tuned in to public broadcast channel SBS2 for Friday night's free-to-air A-League matches, while little more than 60,000 on average watched the other games on pay TV on Fox Sports.

In stark contrast, the Big Bash League has risen in its fifth season, with many matches on Network Ten peaking at more than a million viewers.

The inaugural Women's Big Bash League also garnered praise this month for drawing three times the A-League's audience in its first two broadcast matches on Ten's One HD.

It's a long bow to compare pay TV ratings with free to air, especially given the latter's far larger audience base.

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However the A-League's free-to-air component has also suffered since being demoted from SBS to secondary channel SBS2, reportedly to the tune of more than 100,000 viewers each week.

The most recent two fixtures shown on SBS2 - Western Sydney v Newcastle Jets (Christmas Eve) and Newcastle Jets v Adelaide United (December 18) - did not make the top 20 shows across all the networks' secondary channels.

None of the top 20 were on SBS2, a channel described by UTS Associate Professor of Sport Management Daryl Adair, as a "veritable graveyard".

Deakin University sport management specialist Professor David Shilbury agreed it's a worry, and a product of the "double-edged sword" from which FFA can't seem to free itself.

The governing body's four-year $160 million broadcast deal with Fox Sports and SBS expires in 2017.

Earlier this year there was speculation FFA was trying to end it early amid reported interest from both Seven and Ten.

But Shilbury said the current A-League product was neither visible nor lucrative enough to lock down a major network for its reported asking price of $80 million a year - double its current arrangement.

He believed the priority needed to be exposure, in a pain-before-gain approach which would help the competition thrive and generate enough broadcast value to hold more monetary sway for the next round of negotiations down the track.

"As long as the A-League is on both Foxtel and/or SBS, it's non-competitive against free-to-air television, as is obvious through Ten's broadcasting of Big Bash," Shilbury told AAP.

"The simple reality is if soccer is going to make headway in this country, they've got to strike a television rights deal that gets them back onto free to air for promotion purposes - and obviously for revenue purposes.

"It's a double-edged sword for them because they absolutely need the revenue, because they're miles behind the big football codes in this country.

"But the greater priority from a promotion point of view is to be on free to air so people can watch it more readily, which in turn will drive up rights revenues in broadcast negotiations for not this deal, but the one after.

"That's the slippery slope they're on, it's a vicious circle."

Shilbury also observed FFA's problem was bigger than TV, because football was not an "ingrained cultural, iconic sport" like rugby league, AFL or its main summer rival cricket.

Nor was the quality of the A-League, which has also suffered a drop in crowd numbers, on par with the English Premier League and other European top tiers that would always grab the largest global audience share.

Adair said the A-League had relied too much on band aid solutions such as high-profile marquees.

He lamented the deification of visiting international stars such as Alessandro Del Piero, saying while they provided short-term relief, the focus should be on turning home-grown talent into household names like Buddy Franklin and Greg Inglis.

"I don't think these band aid ventures of Ronaldinho - (recently speculated on as a potential marquee) - and other has-beens are the answer," said Adair.

"You've got to really develop the local product and players ... you need to build relationships not only with your fans, but your potential fans.

"That's something the FFA can improve on.

"They should be showcasing their star players better than they are, so that people who don't know much about football can actually start identifying them."